HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO
B E T W E E N:
Neil Cross
Applicant
-and-
Angela Green
Respondent
DECISION
Adjudicator: Naomi Overend
Indexed as: Cross v. Green
WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS
Neil Cross, Applicant
Self-represented
1This is an Application filed under s. 34 of the Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19, as amended (the “Code”), alleging discrimination with respect to housing. Specifically, the applicant alleges he was unfairly evicted from his residence by the respondent. In his initial Application, he did not cite a ground, but indicated under section 5 that he believed the reason for the treatment is because the respondent does not like him. Subsequently, the applicant sent in a revised section 5 to his Application in which he checked off the grounds of race, colour and sexual orientation, and noting on that page that he was a white, heterosexual male.
2On August 19, 2014, the Tribunal sent the applicant a Notice of Intent to Dismiss that advised the applicant that a review of the Application and the narrative setting out the incidents of alleged discrimination fails to identify any specific acts of discrimination within the meaning of the Code allegedly committed by the respondent. The Tribunal directed the applicant to file written submissions in response to the Notice by September 18, 2014.
3The applicant filed submissions in response to the Notice on September 9, 2014. The applicant did not address the issue of the absence of a link to the grounds he selected, but instead simply listed more examples of what he regarded as problematic treatment.
Analysis and Decision
4An application will only be dismissed at a preliminary stage if it is “plain and obvious” on the face of the application that it does not fall within the Tribunal’s jurisdiction. See Masood v. Bruce Power, 2008 HRTO 381.
5The Tribunal’s jurisdiction is limited to enforcement of the Code. Therefore, to be within the Tribunal’s jurisdiction an Application must contain allegations that connect a respondent’s behaviour to one or more prohibited ground of discrimination. The Application and submissions deals with allegations of what the applicant regards as unfair and demeaning treatment, but on the face of these documents, there is no connection between this treatment and any ground in the Code.
6In these circumstances, I find that it is plain and obvious that the subject matter of the Application does not come within the Code.
7The Application is dismissed.
Dated at Toronto, this 26th day of September, 2014.
“Signed By”
Naomi Overend
Vice-chair